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Mah gives immunogenic herpes treatment update
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KOLOA, Hawaii — Treatment options for immunogenic herpes currently include topical steroids and an antiviral cover, according to a speaker here.
“You want to control the inflammation and make sure you have killed all of the live virus,” Francis S. Mah, MD, said at Hawaiian Eye 2017.
Francis S. Mah
Topical trifluridine (Viroptic, Monarch Pharmaceuticals) and both topical and oral acyclovir (Zovirax, GlaxoSmithKline), as well as oral valaciclovir (Valtrex, GlaxoSmithKline; and generic) and famciclovir (Famvir, Novartis) have been proven to benefit patients with immunogenic herpes, he said.
“As far as the control of the inflammation, try to reduce the steroids as much as possible,” he added. “Sometimes it’s impossible to actually get these patients off the steroids. I would much rather keep the patient on a very low dose of a very mild steroid, even at an extremely low dose consistently rather than doing PK in a patient.”
Long-term anti-viral suppression therapy should be reserved for patients who have recurrent disease, Mah said. – by Rebecca L. Forand
Reference:
Mah F. HSV, HZO external ocular disease: update 2015. Presented at: Hawaiian Eye; Jan. 14-20, 2017; Koloa, Hawaii.
Disclosure: Mah reports he is a consultant for Bausch + Lomb.